Good News For Homeowners

By Community Press Releases

A roof coating approved by Miami-Dade County in 1974 has saved tens of thousands of Florida roofs from hurricane damage. Homeowners who have used it say they have little need for buying hurricane/wind/storm insurance.

“We are not aware of any inclined roof surface coated with our Somay Roof Mastic that has ever experienced any damage from even the highest velocity winds of hurricanes Andrew (175 m.p.h.), Katrina, Wilma, etc., over a period of 38 years,” says Garth Parker, president and chief executive officer of manufacturer The Somay Paint Factory at 3501 N.W. 41st Street, Miami.

A government-certified independent testing laboratory found that shingle roofs started blowing off at just 70 m.p.h.(less than Category 1 force) but the same roofs coated with Somay’s “Roof Mastic”(RM) brand “held together during and after exposure to hurricane winds of 158 m.p.h (Category 5),” Parker said. The tester was Fenestration Testing Laboratory, of Medley, Fla.

Besides equaling or exceeding specifications of Miami-Dade’s Office of Building Code Compliance for use in High Velocity Hurricane Zones, RM won approval of the Florida School Plant Management Assn. for use on any school or other educational institution.

“Shingles are supposedly guaranteed for many years but under the hot, tropical sun they deteriorate badly after a few years, losing their sealing and flexing properties, becoming brittle, developing cracks, and springing leaks,” Parker says. “Applying RM means not only saving those roofs in a hurricane but reducing the need for replacing asphalt roofs.”

Home-owners, Parker continued, can make applying RM an easy, do-it-yourself project that will cost them just $1.00 to $1.25 per square foot, depending on whether it is a flat tile, barrel tile or asphalt roof surface. “And they will make back the cost of the coating over and again from reduced A.C. bills,” Parker added.

When an Ormond Beach, Fla., home owner was sued by his Association for applying RM white to reduce A.C. costs, he counter-sued and won in court, in part because the Governor’s office says white reflective roof coatings have special status under Florida law. The home owner wrote Somay, “My roof is now waterproof, hurricane-proof and the attic temperature has dropped by 37 degrees F. so our electric bills have been impressively reduced.” #